Why do we question anything? Is the Word of God not enough to keep us content and wanting nothing but a relationship with Him? Do we search out our hearts daily? If not, the time is now!
In January, I lost my dad (62 yrs old) and a month later lost my 96 year old grandmother. Both loved the Lord. Both served Him in similar ways. Both from different religious backgrounds. Both showed God’s love and knew the importance of Him in all our lives. Both taught me to love the Lord above anything else. Lessons I want to pass along to my children.
Lately, I have been led to use my grandmothers Bible along with my own. As I thumb through the pages, I see many hours spent in His Word, understanding, love, knowledge and relationship. I then question, like all the writings and underlined scriptures in there, do we have this knowledge and understanding written on the tablets of our hearts? Proverbs 3:3 says, “Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” Are they there? Inscribed in your heart?
In this truth/understanding/knowledge, do we not worry (Matthew 6:25), not doubt (James 1:6), not fear (Isaiah 41:10)? It pleases God to trust Him with our every need. Like in Matthew, the birds are fed and have no worry of anything. Why not us? “Look at the birds! They do not worry about what to eat – they don’t need to sow or reap or store up food – for your heavenly Father feeds them. And you are far more valuable to Him than they are. Will all your worries add a single moment to your life?” (vs 26-27) Trust comes from spending time with Him and in His Word. This will help with our heart issue.
It seemed that the Israelite’s were never satisfied in the desert. God provided their every need, but they still weren’t happy. The problem is they were following God with their words and not their hearts. Their hearts were far away and this grieved God’s heart. The same goes for us today. Are we following God with our words or our hearts?
I don’t want to hurt or grieve Him. God has done so much for me over and over again. “I recall the many miracles He did for me so long ago.” – Psalms 77:11. I constantly work on my heart. If we don’t do this, we can’t have a true relationship with Him and we can’t follow any of His instructions in the scriptures.
When I read Psalms 139:17-18, I was overcome with God’s love for us. It says, “How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can’t even count how many times a day your thoughts turn towards me. And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me.” Are we the same way with Him? Our hearts and thoughts should be constantly on Him in this same manner. This is the only way for us to walk through this world and be ready to be with Him forever.
Love Him. Trust Him. Write His Word on your hearts. Share all this with others! He is coming! Are you ready??
The meaning of “exalt” in Hebrew is to lift, compliment, improve, praise or applaud. Psalms 118:16 says “ The right hand of Yahweh exalts! The right hand of Yahweh will never fail.” What is so important to understand is that God exalts His people even when we don’t deserve it. This is not something that He is required to do but rather He chooses to do it in His own kindness. I’ll be honest, before I studied this word I had no idea what it really meant. I was really just using the context clues but once I studied it I realized what I had been missing out on.
“So everyone, exalt the Lord our God facedown before His glory-throne, for He is great and holy.” -Psalm 99:5
People can get so caught up with the blessings of God and His power that they forget God is the one who deserves to be exalted! It is a beautiful sea to step out onto when we choose to exalt God. It is a place of humbling and true reverencing fear and awe of Him. Every single day we should wake up with a grateful heart. We should be waking up applauding Him because when the world changes and people lash out God never changes and His loves never fades.
When I was younger, I would sit in church watching people truly exalt God. They would have beautiful intimate moments with Him and the goosebumps seemed to spread throughout my whole body just by watching them. THIS… exalting God… cannot be something that is just half-hearted or faked; God knows the difference between someone who truly steps out on the water for Him and someone who goes and gets the life raft. The Bible says that we have the PRIVILEGE to worship God; so why do we take it for granted? There isn’t a day that goes by that we shouldn’t wake up smiling because it is a day that He blessed us with – a day where we were blessed with the opportunity of knowing Him and seeking Him more.
In life we can get distracted and exalt things that last but only for a moment – things that are fleeting. As it says in 1 Samuel 16:7, God doesn’t look at our outward appearance, He looks at our heart. So I plead with you, PLEASE exalt Him, jump for joy in His presence and applaud Him with His creation. In all that you do, let it be pleasing and acceptable in His eyes because He deserves that and so much more. In the Greek, standing ovation is translated into a permanent applause – THAT is what we should be giving Him.
You’ve probably heard the saying, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. So what do you see when you look in the mirror? Don’t like your hair color? Rather have long hair like Crystal Gayle or short hair like Halle Berry? Want straight hair like Fabio or Shirley Temple curls? Have blue eyes like Frank Sinatra or prefer brown eyes? What about green or hazel eyes? Is your nose like ‘Pinocchio’? Have ears like ‘Dumbo’? Are your lips too thin or have you had too much Botox? Do you have ‘Howdy Doody’ freckles? Or Mario Lopez dimples? Are your teeth crooked or straight? Are you counting the wrinkles? Are you overweight? Or underweight? Are you just a little flabby or more muscular like the ‘Hulk’? Do you have tiny dinosaur arms or long sloth-like arms? Are your hands big enough to palm a basketball or do you have baby hands? Are you as small as a ‘Smurf’ character or as tall as an oak tree? Is your nickname ‘Bigfoot’? Do you have claws for toes or cute little piggies?
Now let’s stop for a minute before you get dizzy from shaking your head in agreement or while you catch your breath from laughing. 🙂
Do you realize that while you may be wishing that you didn’t look a certain way or have certain features that there is also someone out there wishing they looked just like you?
Someone who is bald is wishing they had hair again. Someone without the sense of sight is daydreaming about seeing the sunrise or sunset just one more time. Someone without the sense of smell is longing for the aroma of a flower or perfume. Someone without the sense of hearing desires to be able to listen to a song or your voice. Someone without the sense of taste is craving that bite of food as to savor it a little longer. Someone who cannot speak is wanting to say something meaningful just one last time. Someone with no arms is yearning to give out hugs. Someone with no legs &/or feet is wishing they could stand, walk or run again.
Yet, there is also someone out there that is thankful they are bald because they have an opportunity to connect with a child cancer patient in a special way. There is someone that is indebted for having impeccable hearing as they used their ‘white cane’ to cross a very busy intersection today in which they were almost hit by a car. And there is another that is content with their loss of smell as it prompted a Dr. visit where they learned this was a side effect of a treatable disease & saved their life. There is someone that doesn’t take their wrinkles for granted as they remind them of all the laughter & goodness they have been given with family & friends. There is someone that is grateful for their loss of hearing or speech as it forced them to learn sign language & lead them down a path of becoming an interpreter to help others. And there is yet another someone out there without a limb(s) that is overwhelmed at the testimony their life brings as a courageous survivor who fought in a battle to keep us & our country safe.
So let me ask you a second time. WHAT do see when you look in the mirror?
You may ask, “Mirror Mirror on the Wall, who is the fairest of them all?” and see nothing but flaws or imperfections ~ even weaknesses (doubt, fear, anxiety, etc.) & brokenness (hurts, failures, etc.). But don’t you know that you are a reflection of your Father? Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.”
And He [the Lord] responded, “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” – I Samuel 16:7
You are being changed from the inside out so that in your reflection you will see His heart displayed in your thoughts/words, in your appearance & upon your face which in turn magnifies Him to others. “You are fearfully & wonderfully made.” (Psalm 31:30) “You are altogether beautiful, my love, there is no flaw in you.” (Song of Solomon 4:7) “Let your true beauty come from your inner personality, not a focus on the external. For lasting beauty comes from a peaceful and gentle spirit, which is precious in God’s sight.” (I Peter 3:3-4) “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of a good courage. Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed [intimidated], for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9) “So, as God’s own chosen people, who are holy [set apart, sanctified for His purpose] and well-beloved [by God Himself], put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience [which has the power to endure whatever injustice or unpleasantness comes, with good temper]; bearing graciously with one another, and willingly forgiving each other if one has a cause for complaint against another; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so should you forgive. Beyond all these things put on and wrap yourselves in [unselfish] love, which is the perfect bond of unity [for everything is bound together in agreement when each one seeks the best for others].” (Colossians 3:12-14)
Open your eyes to see what the Father sees. Where you may see pain & regret, He sees Love blooming yielding a sweet fragrance. Listen to what the Father has to say about you. Taste & see that the Lord is good. Where you have thoughts of complaint or frustration, take them captive by speaking life & truth. Reach out to others. Walk out the plan God has for your life; He will guide your steps. He sees His Light shining upon your face. He sees His heart in you.
Now…let’s try this again. WHO do you see when you look in the mirror?
See yourself as the Father sees you. See others the way that the Father sees them. Love and care for yourself the same way and with the same intensity that you love and care for others. Look upon yourself and others through the heart of God. Become so close to His heartbeat that your reflection in Him are as One – a mirror image.
“Mirror Mirror on the Wall, WHOSE is the fairest of them all?”
I am not a perfect Christian… and as long as I am an imperfect human I never will be. In the Passion Translation Bible, Psalm 39 is titled “A Cry For Help”, now put that in the back of your mind.
If I came up to you and told you that God wanted to take up every hour, minute and second of your day today what would you say? Would you hear me but not understand me? Would you feel flattered and then move on? Would you make up excuses saying that you’re too busy? Or would you say okay and go in a private room with Him and just be with Him?
Like I said in the very first sentence, I am not a perfect Christian; I am not a perfect person. I want to tell you something raw and honest – as the Bible says, honest confession good for the soul. If someone came up to me and asked me that same question you just read, I’m not sure what I’d do. I might think, “Yeah right,” or I might try and do it only to feel like I failed because I didn’t hear this BIG loud booming voice saying “AINSLEY”. I know myself and I know that immediately I would question myself and I would doubt myself – that’s just how I have always been – in school and in life in general. I’ve always been the type to be a people pleaser and when I feel like I let someone down it eats me up inside; I feel gross and almost immediately want to cry. I feel like I have completely and utterly disappointed them and the thought of that hurts. So, when I try and put that same fear of disappointment with my relationship with God it usually doesn’t end to well. I end up feeling guilty, hurt and like I’m just broken. I start trying to compare my relationship with God to everyone else around me; my mom, dad, pastor, boyfriend….and the list goes on.
I want you to know something. Comparison does not get you anywhere! God does not want your relationship to be the same as another persons with Him. God wants each of us to have our own personal raw relationship with Him. One where you can come to Him in your darkest of moments and just praise Him and be with Him. One where you talk with Him throughout the entire day even when you aren’t really in your “study time”. We shouldn’t just meditate on His word when we pray, read the Bible or praise Him; we should be mediating on it all hours, minutes and seconds of the day. So really if someone came up to you and told you God wanted to spend an entire day with you it shouldn’t be any different from what we should already be doing. Now, I’m not saying you can’t watch TV, workout or hang out with friends and family – all that I’m asking is that in each and every moment of the day you are glorifying Him and loving Him with all that you do.
And now, God, I’m left with one conclusion: My only hope is to hope in you alone!
Psalm 39:7
Think of it like this. When you meet someone and fall in love with them, they are all that you can think about; they are all that occupies your thoughts. You try and come up with any way that you can see them and be in their presence again. Don’t you think that God wants that with us – only multiplied?!?
Now let’s go back to Psalm 39. Did you know that when we feel guilty or hurt or even worried all we have to do His cry out to God? All we need to do is be honest with Him; be truthful with Him. Psalm 39 deals with our words and with God’s discipline.
Very quickly, I want you to think of your mouth like a garden. If we choose not to guard it (because yes it is a choice), we are letting the weeds come in and destroy what once had the potential to be beautiful. However, if we decide to actually guard our mouth, then we are keeping the weeds (death) out of the garden and allowing for beautiful things to come forth and grow (life). God cannot live in us if we have weeds because then He would be going against His own words….and well, He doesn’t do that. But if you catch yourself slipping just ask God for help, truly repent. And yes, God can rebuke us and discipline us but that is what a LOVING parent does for His children. He isn’t doing it because He finds joy in “punishing” us, in fact it isn’t punishment at all, but He is doing it because He sees our potential and He loves us so deeply that He wants to help us get to it – GET TO HIM. We just have to be willing to accept the correction.
I strongly encourage you to please read Psalm 39 and truly meditate and think on it. Be blessed.
We are so profoundly human. We all struggle with it, often feeling like a little devil is on one shoulder and an angel is on the other…the ultimate, daily battle that plays out in every human being: choice. Flesh and muscle wrapped around bone presents the outward appearance of a human body; but beyond what the natural vision can detect is something down deep inside that hands cannot quite touch…an essence beyond human understanding. It even baffles the most distinguished scientific minds…unless they have met the Master!!
“The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
1 Corinthians 2:14
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, amazing things happen! The blood that He shed on the cross makes us a new creature by washing away our sin.
“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
II Corinthians 5:17
I remember the night I really asked Jesus to come into my heart. Many years earlier at seven years old and after a sermon about the crucifixion, I heard Him whisper, “I did this for you,” but no one offered to lead me in prayer. I had known Him for several years and had been seeking Him…but THAT night…I really experienced Him in my heart and I was forever changed. I was just a teenager and knew something was different but did not know just how much until I woke up the next morning to get ready for school. I realized my attitude toward my little sister was different!!! I knew immediately something had really happened inside of me!!
I met the Man that had died for me on the cross so many, many years ago that I might live…really live!!
I was a new creature all right, but in the same human shell…..not transported to any heavenly plane or ushered around by any band of angels (that I knew of!!). Yes, still very profoundly human! And to this day, I feel every bit of my earthly humanity, but there is something deep inside this flesh and bone… something between my emotional heart and my logical mind, that stirs me and reminds me of a LOVE that transformed me to eternal life. And it reminds me that I DO have a choice as I face those daily predicaments and decisions…now I have a Friend that supports me in times of uncertainty, questions, fear and all of the innumerable fantastic things that this earthly life will throw at me.
Being truly “born again” has amazing advantages over winging it on your own!!
As a child of God, My Heavenly Father and His Only Begotten Son, Jesus, left me volumes of letters to read, even giving me examples, telling me how to face the issues of life. There are no new temptations and, for any that do come, God will make a way of escape!! (1 Corinthians 10:13)
“And, when Jesus ascended to be with the Father, God sent the Holy Ghost. Jesus says “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” -John 14:16 & 17
So many scriptures have become just familiar to us…..so familiar that they have lost their depth in our hearts and souls. I think we walk the greatest part of our Christian lives without really realizing who we are in Christ. He said, “Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) Jesus even prayed in the garden before being taken by the soldiers, “they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (John 17:16)
You are more than flesh and bone! As a child of God, your “essence” is defined by The Living God who recreated you and the Son of God who died on the cross and rose again just so that you can walk in the freshness of Life!
Do you know Jesus as your personal Savior and Friend? There is a way that seems right to a man, but when the flesh and bone fall away, where will your soul spend eternity?
If you have accepted Christ into your heart, you are in this world, but no longer of this world; but Jesus also said He will never leave you or forsake you! (Hebrews 13:5) His Love is wrapped around you whether you feel it or not!!!!!!
The heart is an amazing thing, from the moment that God flashes light into the womb it starts to beat. The engine that drives our magnificent bodies doing what it’s made to do without instruction. Our heart leads us more than we think.
The human body is a perfect example of how great God is, the complexities of it are still a mystery to those in science. One example is how the eyes transmit color to the brain, I will let you research that on your own but it is very fascinating! So if we are magnificently made why are many people struggling with “unhealthy lifestyles?”
I laugh when I’m in the grocery store and I see “heart healthy” on packages of food. It’s so easy to focus on what goes in the mouth but Matthew 15:11 says “It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.” (NLT)
The Treasure In You
Scripture is constantly telling us to diagnose the heart because it truly determines our spiritual condition of health. Matthew 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” So let’s think about that, if your heart is where your treasure is and what defiles you comes out of your mouth that can get pretty serious.
What do you talk about the most? “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34)
What gets you excited and passionate to carry on conversations? I am guilty of speaking about temporal worldly things. The world has done a great job of trying to program us, but we don’t have to let it happen. I’ve asked myself how can I remember the words of a song I listened to in high school yet struggle to recall scripture? Scripture says “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” (Psalms19:14)
Most of us have put our “treasure” in the world and not the only thing that matters, our relationship with God. Proverbs 4;23 “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Now that’s plain as day! Another word for keep is reserve, now it can get tricky because in order to love you have to give some of your heart, most of us don’t do that. Our feelings and emotions cause us to go “all in” with whatever it is we feel will make us happy. The only thing we should ever go “all in” with is knowing and pursuing the heart of God.
Diligence is a learned skill, in every circumstance we undertake we experience outcomes. Those outcomes may not be what we want or expect and could possibly create a felling called “hurt.” Notice it says “out of it are the issues of life.” So many of us have issues that are deep, I mean deep in our hearts. We may say we forgive but that scar tissue that remains from the hurts of life still remain. Many of you know all it takes is one thought of that moment and it all comes back. This will affect the heart, raising blood pressure, trouble breathing, anxiety and depression.
The thought created it but the fact that it was in the heart is what made the body react with such devastating effects. The heart is the doorway to the mind, the eyes are to a certain extent but they don’t have the memory that we allow the heart of man to have, notice i said we allow the heart to have memory. GOD HAS NO MEMORY!! He is all about moving forward constantly! So we need to diligently keep our heart focused on the treasures of God and not of this world.
The Worst Heart Attack Of All
Our desires need to be for God, I know in many churches across America for hundreds of years worship has been willed when the hearts desires are elsewhere. We have all been in church before holding on to that hurt not letting God remove that scar tissue. The problem is you cant hide. Jesus knew the hearts of everyone he came in contact with. Just think how disappointed he has been when you hold on to a hurt “acting” like you are worshipping. That hurts him way more than what someone did or said to you twenty years ago. Let it go!
A heart attack occurs when one or more of your arteries become blocked. The blood cannot flow through the body. When your spiritual heart becomes unhealthy the “Blood of Jesus” cannot flow through your body. Many of us need a quadruple bypass from the Lord due to a hardened heart and clogged arteries. You can live with a very high blockage rate in the body. Today many of us are doing that with our spiritual life and a “Unhealthy Heart.”
But, hey there’s good news. The Lord is waiting and always ready to perform the operation. Removing the scar tissue, performing the bypass, getting you back to a “Healthy Heart.” I don’t know about you but Im thankful for a physician and surgeon like him that has a 100% success rate.
There Is Hope
You don’t even have to worry about the recovery time because there is none. His results are instant, effective and permanent. All you have to do is let Him in, no secrets, guilt or shame. He already knows the inner depths of your heart and soul. Just be honest with Him and say, Lord, I’ve held on to hurts, guilt and shame, I’ve said I forgive them but I haven’t. When I do forgive I still remember and I know You have no memory, so no-longer do I. Please operate on my heart Lord, and I promise to diligently keep my heart on Your commandments, making You my treasure, so that the mediation of my heart may be acceptable in Your sight, In JESUS name AMEN!
